Meeting the energy needs of the world's population is an ongoing challenge. Currently, a majority of the world's energy needs are met by combustion of various fuels in stationary power plants or mobile engines onboard vehicles. Problems associated with relying heavily upon combustion based power production include the potential depletion of fuel resources over time, and the air and other environmental pollution associated with combustion of these fuels.
“Renewable” energy sources provide an alternative source of energy which avoids at least some of the negative consequences of traditional combustion based power production. At present, such renewable power generation systems have been limited in the amount of energy that they can reliably provide to meet the overall power needs of the world's population. For instance, the electricity grid in most countries is fed with power from renewable power generation sources which typically accounts for less than one-fourth of all of the power fed to the electricity grid. Furthermore, some sources of renewable power do not provide power on a reliable or continuous basis. For instance, solar power is only available during the day and when the sky is relatively free of clouds. Wind energy is only available when the wind is blowing. Accordingly, a need exists for greater quantities of renewable energy and for sources of renewable energy which reliably provide power on a continuous or near-continuous basis.
One potential reliable source for renewable energy is to capture energy from ocean waves or waves in other large bodies of water. Waves are formed by action of wind upon a surface of the water. The water has sufficient mass that once the wind has created the waves, the waves will continue to move even when the wind ceases or changes direction. As a result, most areas on the world have a significant quantity of wave energy available for harvest on a substantially continuous basis. Wave energy is a source of practically unlimited energy which involves no negative atmospheric emissions, making it a prime candidate for addition of large quantities of renewable energy to the electric power grid.
Wave energy harvesting systems can operate generally vertically or horizontally. With vertical systems a prime mover usually floats on the water and moves up and down as waves pass. With horizontal systems a prime mover is carried along horizontally by action of horizontally moving water. Horizontal systems benefit from also being used to harvest tidal flow energy, river flow energy or ocean current energy in addition to wave energy.
Wave energy can be difficult to effectively harness. Accordingly, a need exists for an effective power plant for harvesting wave energy and converting it into electric power suitable for feeding to an electric power grid or for use to provide power to local off grid electric power systems.